Thanks SE for worrying for us Brazilians and Russians

[Rymm]

It's a mistake.

Should SE have left those STEAM prices as they were for so long? Nope.
Should they have changed them so drastically and quickly? Nope.
Could they have done differently? Yep.
Is there any indication that they meant to do this? Nope.

Your error here is how you are qualifying something as a 'mistake.' All of your above examples do is illustrate how it is a mistake in your opinion. You thinking it is a bad idea does not actually make it a mistake. A factual mistake would be something like an SE employee forgetting a 0 when he entered the price into Steam or lousing up the math when working out the conversion rate. I certainly agree with you that how they handled the increase was a big mistake but those are, again, only our opinions.

As to your last two questions, it depends what you mean by "this," it was rather unclear if you meant the original lower pricing or the price change. If you were talking about the former-

Did they gain anything by this? Nope.

This is objectively false. The lower price allowed them to sell the game to more people in these regions, which is the entire point of regional pricing and is why it is such a common practice among video game developers. More sales, even at a lower cost, meant an increased profit for SE.

Did they lose something by this? Yep.

Only time will tell. They are going to lose subscribers from this, that is a fact. I would think that they had someone crunching the numbers to work out if the increased revenue from those who stay will make up for the losses before they gave this the green light, but in the end those are only estimates. We'll have to see if they end up losing or making money from this.

Whether you personally claimed it or not, the reaction of the BR/RU community could be characterized as being 'outraged' by the abrupt change. So I don't see why you're quibbling with my use of the word.

As a member of the BR/RU community it most certainly does reflect upon me when you choose to cast an erroneous, inflammatory blanket statement over us, and you can bet your buttons I am going to call out you or anyone else who attempts to do so.

(In case it's not clear, 'erroneous and inflammatory' in the sense that you painted the reasons for our outrage in the worst possible light, intentionally misrepresenting myself and the many, many people who stated point-blank that our issue was with the manner and not the action itself.)

[Gwaeron89]

Steam users in BR and RU have been receiving an unfair discount that other players in those nations were not receiving. that's not fair. Nor is it fair to players in other countries and regions. Fixing the incorrect pricing in Steam, is just that.

I don't think that people keep talking about "unfair" prices realize that they becoming like this based on customer buying ability not some discrimination over other countries. The average level of salaries in Russia (not sure about Brazil) is 3-4 times lower than average of EU or US. You may tripple the prices as much as you want but you end up losing most of regional playerbase simple because they aren't able to afford paying this price anymore. Whatever this is worth it for SE.. i dunno, probably russian and brazilian community is just not large enough to bother right now, its just a business after all.

[Naunet]

I don't think that people keep talking about "unfair" prices realize that they becoming like this based on customer buying ability not some discrimination over other countries. The average level of salaries in Russia (not sure about Brazil) is 3-4 times lower than average of EU or US. You may tripple the prices as much as you want but you end up losing most of regional playerbase simple because they aren't able to afford paying this price anymore.

Yes, this is why many game developers are actually shifting toward regional pricing instead of away. It gives them access to broader markets and potential income that they wouldn't have had, as well as spreads their game to more eyeballs.

[Enkrateia]

Greetings, everyone!

Thank you for the additional responses to the recent announcement. While the thread has not yet reached a point where I need to begin moderating it or consider closing it, please try to keep the discussion focused on potentially new topics and civil among each other. Some of the arguments that have begun popping up again are the same topics that were discussed before, and can be referenced back to the old thread that fully detailed those topics. Arguing over semantics and small differences in perception are more likely to give the thread a hostile tone, which I would like to avoid. There certainly may be topics, both positive and negative, than can be discussed civilly, and feel free to engage in those discussions. However, please consider what you post before posting it, so that the thread can remain open for everyone to be able to express their views calmly.

Thank you for your understanding.

LGM Enkrateia

[Kosmos992k]

**snip**
In view of Enkrateia's message I will keep this short and sweet.

(In case it's not clear, 'erroneous and inflammatory' in the sense that you painted the reasons for our outrage in the worst possible light, intentionally misrepresenting myself and the many, many people who stated point-blank that our issue was with the manner and not the action itself.)

I have neither mis-represented you nor anyone else. Nor have I insulted anyone. I have stated that there is an issue with the manner of the change. But, I have also stated that the change was correcting a pricing error, a mistake. I cannot see any interpretation of the facts that suggests that the pricing on Steam in BR and RU was anything other than a mistake. Just as it was a mistake (as I have said multiple times) to so abruptly change the price. SE has taken action to correct that. Mistakes happen, people often assume motives or intent that are not present.

[Rymm]

-snip-

I apologize Enkrateia. I was a bit incensed to see the old arguments and snark cropping up again in a thread simply meant to express gratitude and I let my frustration carry me to post in too close to an aggressive tone. I'll refrain from posting in this thread any more in an effort to curb the hostility.

Thank you, again, to both you and SE.

[Naunet]

I cannot see any interpretation of the facts that suggests that the pricing on Steam in BR and RU was anything other than a mistake.

Any interpretation of the facts other than... the facts, that is? On the one hand, we have the knowledge that the regional pricing tool must be deliberately set by the developer when setting up a game for sale on Steam. You have to go in, manually change it, and then set the pricing yourself. There are specific steps that do not just accidentally happen. On the other hand, we have your belief that it simply must be a mistake, despite there being no indication of this.

One of them is more convincing than the other.

This is all beside the point, though. I feel for Russian and Brazilian players, and I wish SE had chosen to remain with the tide of change in the rest of the game industry.

[Kosmos992k]

This is all beside the point, though. I feel for Russian and Brazilian players, and I wish SE had chosen to remain with the tide of change in the rest of the game industry.

Regional pricing is a backwards move for the industry. Regional pricing can mean that games are not released in particular markets because they would not be profitable due to regional pricing and the impact of exchange rate conversion. Regional pricing also mandates region locking. Region locking means that an NA player cannot import and play the game from a Brazillian retailer (for example). This is how Console games were sold prior to the PS3. It was painful and meant that a lot of games were never seen outside certain home markets such as Japan. With region free games, we have seen many more games become available either through direct release by publishers in localized forms or simply importing copies from the market where the game is available - since they can be played without having to circumvent region locking.

Honestly, regional pricing and region locking go hand in hand. Region locking is part an parcel of all DRM and copy protection since these mechanisms are required protect and enforce regional pricing. It would be a huge step backwards to transition to regional pricing.

[Naunet]

Regional pricing also mandates region locking.

No, it doesn't.

[Kosmos992k]

No, it doesn't.

Yes it does. If a game I play is available in another region for 10% of what I pay in USD, then without region locking, what prevents me from buying the game at 10% of the USD price? Nothing. Guess what that does to the revenue for the game. Region locking exists to protect content providers against customers exploiting regional pricing.

This discussion is definitely off topic for this thread though. So I will leave it at that.